All the students of the Summer/After School Programs in Fostoria and Fremont and their families as well as community leaders joined others across the nation in the annual Lights On for After School campaign. At left, students march through downtown Fremont as part of the national recognition.

In Fostoria, the students and families began the celebration with a parade at Riley Elementary School that ended at Fostoria High School where a motivational speaker from Jim’s Gym made a presentation. That was followed by a pizza party for everyone.

In Fremont, students, families and community leaders from Fremont and Clyde-Green Springs schools participated in a parade that included the unicycle group. The parade ended at the Fremont Middle School where the students had a balloon release in honor of After School programs across the nation. That was followed by presentations, a magic show, then dinner.

The Lights On for After Schools campaign, sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance, is conducted annually to create awareness of where lights are on for children after school. It aims to bring attention to the need for programs to keep children safe after school, help working families, and improve the academic achievement of children.

In an effort to create greater awareness of the work Senior Programs do with home-delivered meals, Senior Programs Director Robin Richter decided to invite community leaders on the meal delivery routes so they could see first-hand.

Rep. Jeff Wagner, Fremont Mayor Terry Overmyer, Memorial Hospital CEO Al Gorman, United Way Director Linda Havens among others all decided to take advantage of the opportunity. They rode the meal delivery vehicles with the drivers and delivered meals to the homebound senior population in Sandusky County.

Ukranian Tatyana Vasylenko, standing in photo, addresses the roundtable group when the Ukrainian delegation visited Fremont in September. She was one of 10 Ukrainian community leaders visiting NW Ohio as part of a program to provide training in how community groups and local non-governmental organizations work with the local governments to get their voices heard.

The training program is funded by USAID and operated by the Great Lakes Consortium for International Training and Development. This consortium is administered by WSOS.

Fremont Economic Development Director Michael Jay (seated next to Tatyana in the photo at left), Habitat for Humanity Lowell Peterson (seated next to Jay), and Cheryl Denny, a WSOS staffer who serves on the Coalition of Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) along with other WSOS staff provided information on how local groups accomplish their goals.

Penny Moore, left, looks at the display of items from the Stricker Family Development Center that was part of the Reggio Emilia exhibit at the Jerome Library of Bowling Green State University. Moore is also a member of the Reggio Emilia study group that was instrumental in bringing the exhibit to Northwest Ohio this year. She also encourages Child Development staff to embrace the teaching concept. Several teachers use the teaching philosophy in their classrooms at the various centers in the WSOS four-county service area.

The main tenets of the education of young children in the Reggio Emilia teaching philosophy embraces: the image of the child, the symbolic representation, the role of the environment, the role of the teacher, the importance of time, and the role of the parent.

Vice President Ruthann House, at center in photo at right, and Family Development Director Jacquie Wells, left, accept a gift from Freddie Larson, right, a member of the Fostoria Collaborative responsible for the establishment of the new building that houses the WSOS Child Development Center, offices of the Seneca County Health Department, and the Seneca County Early Intervention Program. Larson is also the former Director of WSOS Child Development programs. The gift, an engraved railroad spike, was presented to those partners instrumental in making the center a reality.

Manager: Cathy Warwick Staff: 9 employees
This department is part of Senior Programs

It is a little known fact outside the kitchen that the WSOS Food Service staff produces more than 600 meals each day. In addition, sometimes they are called on to do extra duty and provide meals for special events around the WSOS organization.

With a staff of 9, Food Service Specialist Cathy Warwick manages to package meals ready for delivery by 9:30 a.m. each day. In addition, she readies hot meals daily and frozen meals for the weekend for home-bound seniors who rely on these meals.

"I don’t mind doing it. My heart is with seniors. I really feel we make a difference," Warwick said.

In 2005, Food Service prepared more than 265,216 meals. Of that number, more than 141,700 were for preschoolers and 82,408 were for senior citizens around Sandusky County. Food Service also prepares meals for the Sandusky County Juvenile Detention Center, READS participants and in the summer to participants of SANDCO Industries.

Food Service is obliged to follow USDA nutritional guidelines to ensure all seniors get a nutritious meal daily. Preschoolers who receive meals from Food Service are also provided meals that meet the USDA nutrition guidelines.

Food safety is important to the work Food Service employees do. Checking temperatures, packaging meals, and ensuring they are delivered within health safety rules is vital to their daily jobs.

Editor’s note: this column appears in each issue of this newsletter. Next issue will feature TRIPS services.

• Marine Mechanics will start its eighth class on Nov. 13. This is a 16-week training program that provides skills in the marine mechanics field to residents in the WSOS service area.
• The 2006 Summer Cooling Program served 77 more households than did the 2005 program. In 2006, 320 air conditioners and $61,783 in electric bill payments were provided to eligible residents in the WSOS four-county service area. The 2006 program disbursed a total of $110,384 in services to residents.
• Elections for low-income representatives to the WSOS Board of Directors was set for each of the four-county service area. Ottawa County had elections on Oct 19 while Wood County conducted elections on Oct. 26. In Seneca County, a representative was set to be chosen on Nov. 2 while those in Sandusky County were set to elect their representative on Nov. 8. These representatives, who will serve a two-year term, will be seated at the January meeting of the Board of Directors.

HR Director Adrienne Fausey, right, examines the display at a potluck lunch featuring Hispanic foods that was held at Central Office. Items in the display were shared by Gloria Mendoza of the Accounting department and Melinda Moreno of Family Development. Similar acitivites were conducted in each WSOS county in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. This activity was sponsored by the Culture and Diversity Team. The team also distributed posters recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month to each WSOS site.

William Weinheimer

Full name: William (Bill) J. Weinheimer

Address: Fremont

Family:Sons, Jacob, 8, and Garrett, 6.

Occupation: Bill joined WSOS as a bus monitor almost 3 years ago. Currently, he is a teacher assistant at the Stricker Family Development Center.

Favorite part of the job: He said he just loves the look on a child’s face when they accomplish some thing for the first time. He said, "They smile and say proudly, "I did it!""

Goals: Bill is currently attending Terra Community College with the goal of earning an associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education. He then plans to go on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education.

Interests/Hobbies: He said he especially enjoys watching his kids participate in sports activities. However, when he’s not doing that or studying for his classes, he enjoys golf, softball, playing catch with his kids, movies and church activities.